When I write these words is 6:05 on Sunday. We sit on the Warsaw-Olsztyn train with unceasing hope that at 8:18 we will be able to get off at Ostróda. It will not be easy. It would certainly be easier if we did not sit until midnight the day before in the Comedy Club listening to the embarrassing, improvised dubbing of the Solar Patrol. The eye closes itself, and the head falls on the window that separates us from the downpour. This state has its pluses - none of us have the courage to ask the question that one should ask in our home: who we are, where we are going and WHAT WE DO. We will not be able to sleep the station, which is made clear by the conductor with the whistle and the device that makes the "piiiiik" every time the door is closed. The rationale for getting up early and spending half a day on the train just to see the national road championship is not the best. I mean, it seems good, for everyone who has not been to such a championship yet. The vision of standing in the rain, in order to see cyclists passing by us every half hour, does not inspire optimism. We bought tickets for PKP on Saturday in a somewhat spontaneous and compulsive reflex, which did not allow us to recalculate the pros and cons of such a beautiful day spent in which one should rest. Of course, this is an extensive cover for the fact that we just want the scrambled eggs and sausage from WARS. Besides, any excuse not to "do training" is good. This year I bet on super-freshness ;-)

On the train, we get a place next to a group of retired Lithuanians, remembering fondly year 66 ', biting each story with a piece of cucumber and bite a hard-boiled egg. In WARSie we know that there is no water, but maybe it is better, because the seller has been away from home for three weeks, and yesterday he finished the change at 3:30, so it's a pity to tire him. We also learn how often it takes an empty bottle in the nose when it does not want to sell alcohol and how much it has to pass for PLN 3650 net. Considering all these inconveniences, there is no possibility of buying sandwiches, so the whole trip goes to hell. I do not know if I'm more hungry or more so I would like the train not to go too fast. The sky outside the window is becoming grayer and navy, and the wall of rain gives no hope. In the area of ​​Mława, we begin the search for a return train, which would leave the house somehow after 9, that is, immediately after the start of the elite of women.

I have to admit to something - when it comes to cheering for professionals, there is no fan. I was on several major races like Giro or Tour de France, but it fascinated me more as a socio-cultural event. In the spring, we were at the cross-country World Cup in Valkenburg, but there, in turn, the pretext were fries. On the Tour de Pologne route, I stand only to talk to friends or just like the rest of the city - to wait the passage of cyclists and cross the street. Recently I watched him from the windows of the work, but again - just because the whole office looked. The office, in turn, watched because the people on TV reportedly watched - that's what TVP claims. I am much more excited about the races in which my friends start. I do not know who is the Polish Champion in football, volleyball, basketball, and I am just realizing that despite running one of the biggest cycling blogs in the country, I do not know who is the road champion from the joint start. He gave it a little, as it's being said now. Maybe if the Polish Champion ran a sensible blog or fanpage, the case would look different. For the last year, I have not thought of him once.

If I'm already cheering, then those who are not favorites. Nothing is as enjoyable as the Icelandic draw on the World Cup. Likewise, in January, we enjoyed the victory of Marta Turoboś, whom no one (whom I know of) chose to win. In road cycling, however, it is different. I wish you a win here one of the favorites. The bigger the favorite, the more I wish him. The reason is simple - the Polish Champion t-shirt is visible in the peloton and works great as a country advertisement. When I see her on Michał Kwiatkowski, I know that he will appear in the top of the peloton, maybe on some box, in SKY advertising bags, and even Michał himself will be easier to spot on the Grand Tour. What do I do after this, that Adrian Kurek rides in a shirt (I checked for the purposes of the entry), since I last heard about him during last year's visit to Gdynia, and then silence. CCC is already visible enough - I need to combine in the pictures with a saturation slider. Today, CCC riders were as usual as many that they should have a race.

For purely selfish reasons, I wish victory to someone from the largest foreign groups. The only exception is probably Adam from Ośko Warszawa, for doping whom Panda has been heating chickens for a long time and knights from WKK. I must admit, however, that I can visualize a much more funny, though unfortunately impossible, solution in the context of Friday's time:

Such a joke that Grunwald, the fight, the Poles, the sword that is obtained for the victory and the German wielding him. Curtain.

Bodnar is not a tourist

We watch Friday's relationship from time. It's hard to call it a relationship, just in the car behind Kwiatkowski someone records his ride with a phone. Seemingly very boring, it draws you for a full half hour thanks to the funny comments from the service car, connected to the ear of the receiver connected to the ear. Whoever watched, knows. It would be interesting if the commenters did not know that they are being recorded. For today, we are wondering why amateurs shout: "Ciśniiiiij Maciooooo!" Or "Dawaj! Come on! tempo! "and Michał is in the telephone "Do not like it, do not like it, you've got a third".

5500 characters, and I have not left the train yet. It is 7:35, 7 * C and 61% rain in the forecast. Panda sits hard in three dressed layers, but just in case I do not catch eye contact with her.

I am not sure what to expect from the event in Ostróda. I know, however, that I will not be able to continue writing on the train, because our neighbors from eggs began to tell stories from their youth. The one about my neighbor - a Russian woman who cut her head off with her husband and burned her in the oven, she beat me a bit from the rhythm.

ostróda

The city is welcomed by a moderate sun and nothing else. It's hard to wonder who normal leaves the house on a Sunday morning. The Internet did not return results for the slogan "interesting things to see in Ostróda". The town of competition is located about 500 meters from the station, and the more we are there, the worse the weather gets. It reaches its culmination when athletes warm up next to us. It pours from the sky enough that we begin to doubt the purposefulness of our idea. At 9 o'clock, it's hard to talk about the town of occupations per town. Starters hide under roofs, and there are almost no lokalsów. Someone, somewhere, breaks up a stall with clothes, with coffee, with equipment. In the center there is a sizable food truck, from which we do the laughter - they will not do much trading on that day. The rain passes when the girls are on the grid. From then until the end of the day the weather will be indescribable in one word. Panda pulls and puts on the jacket at intervals of a few minutes. At times, you can sunbathe in a swimsuit, just to remember the frozen hands of alpine downhill moments.

The "intimacy" of the race has its advantages. I happen to be randomly between the girls at the start and then it's a bit hard to get out. I take a few pictures, eavesdrop on a few coaching tips and look at them as soon as they disappear behind the horizon. We move them from the shoe opposite. On this day, we do about 30,000 steps.

While the choice of Ostróda seemed to me at first a dubious idea to organize such an event, the more we are walking away from the city on foot, the more I want to go back there with my bike. Yes, such events definitely work well as a promotion of the region. Apparently, the 200 kilometer elite route was 2 kilometers vertically. It is not much, for such a distance, but it is enough to say that the profile was wavy. Particularly well blended with the surrounding meadows, lakes and forests. I am almost certain that these areas will appear on the blog.

From the point of view of an observer, it's hard to tell me anything more than the fact that the players are going. Unless the snails, which on this day are trying massively to cross the street in the forest and most of them fail - [*] enter the city. I have the impression that snails will be remembered for the longest of the whole trip.

The peloton overcomes the route consistently, decreasing from time to time on the weaker unit that day. This is how 5 of 6 laps passes. We are going - they are going, we are standing - they are going. Someone from the security says that the car hit the bike during the race, but nothing happened to anyone. We are finishing the finishers at the finish line, where thanks to the announcer we know what is going on. There is also quite a surprise when it turns out that the turnout of the audience has definitely increased. This is probably the effect of dozens of technical cars thudding here, from which jumpers, coaches, families and random people pour out. It would be unfair to say that the locals were not there. They were and divided into two groups: those under the stage and those under the big campsite with Michał Kwiatkowski inside. In the meantime, women's competition is won by Małgorzata Jasińska. Cool, the shirt will go into the world and it will be combined with probably the most beautiful bike in the women's peloton.

Around midday, the crowd at the start is quite large. The difference between men's cycling and women's cycling is still huge and you can see it in every aspect. Interests of viewers and participants and the ride itself. It would not be fair to say that girls do not give their best, especially when they are in the finishing line, but in the men's peloton, testosterone and adrenaline can be felt. Everything is done "somehow more".

Amazing, but even the presentation of the teams attracts a lot of people. I still can not assess how many of them came with the players, but what does it matter. At the food truck gets a queue and to get your hot dog and fries, spend a good time there. It does not stop us and from that moment the day can be considered as won. People are very different and I sincerely admire "Kwiatka" that she is able to transport unnoticed between people so effectively. At the start he does not succeed, and like other foreign fame (only more), he is attacked by selfików hunters. It is understandable that if something attracts people to this sport, they are definitely known names. It's a self-propelled machine - people go to people people go to. My idol is the gentleman who approaches Michał, takes out a photo, puts it on Michał's chest and begins to put up an autograph, which will then be a gift to our master.

After the start we set off for the riders, this time the other way round. Despite all my passion for this sport, we can not stand it till the end of the event. The loop is over 20 kilometers, which means that the peloton passes us every 30 minutes. We can see how a small group runs away, how the peloton chases it, how the peloton is chased by cyclists who have fallen out of it and how the backs are shrinking more and more. Our black horses are coming off quite quickly. In a professional (in the sense of: elite license), the peloton banged on the form is similar to many amateur prizes. It reminds us how great the gap between us - amateurs and the national elite. It turns out later that just like at the beginning of the race a departure formed, so he reached the finish line (losing the next players until only 4 remained). won Kwiato. Several dozen trains working in the peloton did not manage to catch up with World Tour competitors.

On television, maybe I would survive a report from such a race, but it would take 30 minutes to get wet so that I could see a group for 10 or more ... hard. The route from the point of view of the walker looks pretty good, but it's a pity that it can not be shortened at any point, so that cyclists can see more often (or at least to let it pass half of it without turning back).

I can not objectively assess a visit to such an event as the Polish Road Championships. On the one hand, I feel that it was there and that from the organizational point of view it is hard to attach something seriously, on the other, I think that cycling is a difficult sport to watch. I did not have any video report, which would be broadcast on large screens in the town. People could then bend over beer and sausages, sometimes jumping to the route. Route, which after all could lead the supporters at least twice per lap. Unfortunately, I understand that the budget does not allow such investments. If you do not look at it, the Polish Championship is a commercial event, just like everything else. Congratulations to the announcer, who thanks to communication with the carts, could verbally communicate what is happening, thus giving a substitute for a video message. In combination with Mr. Huzarski, who deserves to be applauded for the perfect selection of colors for the balloons and advertising capes, they created a duet that could be interesting.

How many familiar faces did I meet? More than a dozen. How many of them were not directly related to the organization and help of the players? A maximum of a few. I know that I repeat this on the occasion of practically every national event, which they describe on the blog, but remind yourself of it every time you throw something on the players. Football is a sport that has huge amounts of active supporters. Cyclists, unfortunately, do not have time for such crap as visiting local races, because at the time they probably ride a bike ... And I'm not surprised at all. Throughout the day I can not get rid of the feeling that I would like to ride a bicycle around Ostróda.